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RANUNCULDS. ~ I. RANUNCULACEZ. 141 
From Italy. A fine garden species, with double and semi-double varieties of 
red, white and blue flowers. May. t 
Observation.—Many ad foreign species are ornamental, and perhaps rarely cultivated. They al 
prefer a fresh, loamy soil. 
3. HEPATICA. Dill 
Gr. ijrarixos, of the liver; from the fancied resemblance of the leaf. 
Involucre of 3 entire, ovate, obtuse bracts, resembling a ¢ 
situated a little below the flower ; calyx of 5—9 petaloid sepals, dis- 
posed in 2 or 3 rows; corolla 0; achenia awnless. 
H Tritépa. Chaix. (Anemone Hepatica. Linn.) Liverwort. 
Lvs. trilobate, the lobes entire; scape 1-flowered, hairy.— Woods, Can. to 
Car. This little plant is one of the earliest harbingers of spring, often putting 
forth its neat and elegant flowers in the neighborhood of some lingering snow- 
bank. The root consists of numerous and strong fibres. Leaves all radical, 
oa long, hairy petioles, smooth, evergreen, coriaceous, divided into 3 lobes, 
which suggests all its names. Flowers on scapes 3—4/ long, solitary, numer- 
ous, generally blue, but frequently in varieties of white and flesh-color. In cul- 
tivation they become double. In respect to the form of the leaves there are two 
varieties :-— 
a. obtusa, lobes obtuse, rounded.—Prefers the south side of hills, 
8. acuta, lobes acute.—Prefers the north side of hills. 
4, ADONIS. 
Feigned to have sprung from the blood of Adonis, when wounded by the boar. 
Sepals 5, appressed ; petals 5—15, with naked claws; achenia in 
a spike, ovate and pointed with the hardened, persistent style. 
A. AUTUMNALIS. Pheasani’s Eye. 
St. branching; fis. 5—8-petaled ; carpels crowned with avery short style, 
and collected into an ovate or subcylindric head; pet. longer than the calyx.—A 
fine, hardy annual, from Europe, naturalized in some parts of N. Y. Stem 
thick. Leaves pinnately parted, with numerous linear segments. Flowers 
crimson, 14’ diam. Seeds to be sown in autumn, in a light soil. +4 
5. RANUNCULUS. 
Lat. rand, a frog ; from the aquatic habitat of some species. 
Calyx of 5 ovate sepals ; corolla of 5 roundish, shining petals, each 
with a nectariferous scale or pore at the base inside; filaments 00, 
much shorter than the petals; achenia 0G, crowded in a roundish or 
oblong head.— Herbs mostly 1, with yellow flowers. 
* Leaves all undivided. 
1. R.’Fuammtia. Small Spearwort. 
St. declinate ; vs. smooth, linear-lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, lower ones 
petiolate; ped. opposite the leaves—An aquatic herb, growing in ditches and 
swamps, Can. to N.Car. W.tolll.! Root fibrous. Stem 6—18/ long, more or 
less decumbent, succulent. Leaves 3—6/ in length, 4—1/ wide, entire or with 
a few teeth, thickened at the acute summit. Flowers solitary, of a golden yele 
ri o peduncles 4 as long as the leaves, It abounds in a very acrid juice, 
n.—Aug. 
2. R. reprans. Creeping Crowfoot. ' 
Very small, smooth; st. creeping, geniculate, rooting ; nodes 1-flowered ; 
lvs. subulate, smooth, entire, remote.—A slender species, creeping on river banks 
and other wet places, Hanover, N. H., (Mr. T. Rickard,) W.to Oregon. Stem 
6—10’ long, round, rooting at the joints. Leaves fleshy, 6—12” in length, 
mostly very narrow, and acute at each end. Flowers on axillary peduncle 
Sepals spreading, obtuse. Petals obovate, yellow, fading to white. N: ectaaite 
covered by a scale. Achenia very smooth. Jl. 
B. ovalis. Bw. Lvs. oval and lanceolate; pet. 5—10. 
